Sleeping With The Enemy
by Bisslebork
Summary: James Bond travels to Israel as he pursues his target, the gorgeous IRA bomb maker Alexandra Pallas.Soon however,007 finds the future of the US hanging in the balance as he battles Tom Gallagher, a power hungry psychopath consumed by greed. Please Review
1. Chapter 1

Ian Fleming's James Bond, 007 in:

Sleeping with the Enemy

Prologue:

James Bond sat on the wonderfully furnished chair in Hiroshi's office. The room's walls were amber coloured with a large black rug leading from his position to the main desk. The only thing illuminating the expansive room, littered with Japanese style plants and paintings, was a giant ceiling lamp. Nori Hiroshi sat at his desk while his guards stood alert. Bond counted four, two behind him and two on either side of Hiroshi.

"You better be in position Aki or this will be a short meeting" Double-Oh-Seven quietly whispered into the microphone hidden within his collar. He brushed a few hairs of lint off of his dinner jacket while Nori continued to stare at his guest. Finally he spoke.

"So what was it you wish to discuss Mr. Thatcher?" Nori asked.

"Only one quiet little issue, though I wish you could have bothered to see me when I first arrived instead of had your thugs bark at me in Japanese. Perhaps then I wouldn't have had to win half the casino clientele their money back, you know, just to turn a few heads," Bond responded.

"Yes Mr. Thatcher you are quite the gambler indeed, so what is this problem of yours that you believe I can help you with?"

"It's quite simple really, and involves a Yakuza owned casino as well as the British business man who was going to buy out its parent company being found dead in a restaurant nearby,"

"Yes it is quite unfortunate; blowfish is a very dangerous food when it isn't cut properly"

"Indeed, especially when a closer look into the matter reveals the restaurants cook was found dead in his home three hours later," Bond's blue piercing eyes stared into those of Hiroshi's, now that the cat was out of the box he silently prayed Aki was in position if things went sour. Nori pondered the facts for a little before sliding his hand through his black hair and removing his tinted sunglasses.

"What do you want Mr. Thatcher, and which agency has come knocking on my door today, CIA? Interpol?"

"Not important," the British agent paused. "I'll let you know though that whoever ordered the assassination isn't my priority, I've been simply asked to locate and have a heart to heart with the killer." Nori Hiroshi pressed a buzzer on his desk and an attractive Asian secretary appeared. She exchanged a few words with Nori before opening up the top drawer of the desk he was sitting at and leaving with a large envelope. Bond smirked

"I guess you aren't simply going to give me the information I desire," he exclaimed. Nori shook his head. Double-Oh-Seven sat tightly in his chair while the various Yakuza henchmen around him produced small machine pistols from their black jackets. Bond simply tapped his hidden microphone twice with his finger, initiating plan B.

"You better be in position Aki or this will be a short meeting," echoed into Aki Youko's eardrums from inside a supply truck located in the casino basement. She quietly slipped out of the parked vehicle moving from support pillar to support pillar in the underground parking lot. Her black hair came up to just above her oriental style eyes. She was wearing a black tight sneaking suit and flat footed shoes. Finally she reached a metallic door which read "utilities" and opened it. Two yakuza thugs turned their heads towards the open door. They were slumped against a wall in the tiny room with a large circuit breaker behind them. Instead of immediately opening fire on the intruder, like proper employees, the two men smiled at the slim and petite figure standing in the door way with a seductive smile and left their guns behind. They were quickly rewarded with two silenced pistol rounds to the cranium. Aki walked forward carefully stepping over the two deceased gangsters, grabbed at a collection of wires at the side of the circuit breaker and waited. Two small bangs from her ear bud initiated plan B and Aki ripped out the wires.

The second the light went out in Nori's office Bond successfully rocked his chair back into the ground and rolled away from it. Just as predicted one of the hoodlums behind James instinctively opened fire with his Israeli made Uzi submachine gun into the now empty chair. Without any light to see his target the sound of the large chair hitting the floor was enough to make the man panic and open fire upon it. Bond used the muzzle flash of the gun to find the shooter and elbowed him in the throat, knocking him down and disarming him in the process.

"Hurry up James, six more seconds and the backup generator will kick in and put you in quite the predicament," Bond thought to himself. He fired a spray of bullets from the stolen UZI at the front of the room hitting some of the Yakuza and missing the others. It was enough to keep them panicking while he whipped open the door to Hiroshi's office, taking Double-Oh-Seven into his secretary's room just as the lights came back on. The secretary was up against the wall being felt up by one of Hirohsi's security staff. Before the lanky Asian man could fully draw his pistol Bond emptied his Uzi's magazine into him. She began screaming as the limp body fell onto her desk while Double-Oh-Seven jammed an office chair under the doorknob. Bond barked some Japanese at the terrified girl and she quickly fished out the envelope.

"Thanks love," Bond exclaimed as he snatched the envelope from her. He ran over to the dead yakuza and picked up his small 9mm pistol, as the various yakuza on the other side of the closed door banged on it furiously.

"I'm in position James," Youko's voice echoed from Bond's collar. Double-Oh-Seven, shot out the nearby window and with the envelope in hand leapt out of it. The descent was quite short and ended with Bond landing on top of the black van Aki entered the casino in. Bond jumped again, now onto the ground, and entered the van. Youko smiled at him briefly before hitting the gas and leaving the casino forever.

Bond rifled through the various items in the envelope as Aki drove. She didn't want to get to far from the casino since the killer was most likely still in the area. Finally Bond told her to quickly pull over to the side of the road and showed her a file photo. The description matched that of those given by eye witnesses the night of the murder of the currently employed chief at the restaurant. The fact that he was one of the few non Asians there and that he was new had caught the eye of some customers. Bond frantically searched some more before finding his name and the hotel the assassin was staying at. They pulled up and Bond was about to exit the vehicle when Aki clicked the locking button on her side.

"Sorry Mr. Bond but this is my territory, if anyone's making the arrest it's me, if you remember I'm the chief investigator here, you're more of an observer," Aki exclaimed to her partner. Double-Oh-Seven didn't exactly like having titles thrown at him but the view the British spy had of Aki's breasts made it less of a big deal.

"As the lady wishes," he responded back, now looking at her face. Youko blushed and exited the vehicle, she had slipped out of the stealth suit back at the casino and now wore a nice flower decorated top and a skirt which went down to her knees. Aki blew Double-Oh-Seven a kiss and then ran into the hotel while Bond entered the driver's seat and waited.

After a quick chat with the receptionist Aki was on the 7th floor of the large 4 star hotel. She walked by many doors each with their individual peephole and continued to walk through the brightly lit and beautifully decorated halls until she reached her destination. Briefly recalling the name Bond had given her Aki drew her pistol and a bullet later the lock on the door came off. She opened the door and walked into the killer's room. Jurek Spiridon stood placidly by the window staring outside. The phone rested on a table beside him and the television was on. The gun used to kill the original restaurant chief laid on his bed.

"Mr. Spiridon," Aki exclaimed, "I think we need to have a little chat,"

"Can I be seated first?" Jurek replied in his deep polish accent. He then turned to face the intruder.

"Sounds fine to me," Youko answered. The female Public Security Intelligence Agency agent (PSIA) stood her ground while Jurek sat down into his chair, looked up, and let out a small chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Aki asked curiously.

"Let's just say I'm sitting in the right chair", Jurek finished as he crossed his legs. Even if it wasn't for the television being on it would have been incredibly hard for Aki Youko to hear the small beeping noise that began once Jurek sat down. Either way from inside the van in the parking lot James Bond was severally startled as the 7th floor of the hotel suddenly exploded up above him. Bond quickly looked up as the large debris began to fall from the sky. Without a second thought Double-Oh-Seven sped out of the area. The 7th floor of the hotel now resembled a giant window, showing the other side of the city to whoever looked through it. Bond brushed his hand through his black hair in a small attempt to ease himself as he drove. His face stayed serious as he sped as fast as he could to a secure government building to make his report. There wasn't anything to get overly emotional about anyway. The mission was a failure and Aki was dead, end of story.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1: Jailbreak

Zusman Idan was ashamed. He stood in the large brown room labeled confiscated items in Hebrew. Various lockers full of weapons and ammo surrounded him. Sweat dripped from his clean and shaven face onto the concrete floor of the room. He was still wearing his police uniform and cradled a white cell phone is his hand. Shimon Koppel was the owner of the device and now lay in a cell on the floor below Idan, waiting. Idan had requested Shimon be put in the holding cell closest to the main security hub he was now in. Idan sighed heavily and walked out of the room and into the main security area. Many fellow officers applauded Idan as he made his way to the staircase, it was expected. Half of Israel's police forces had heard the story of how he and his partner had managed to catch the Islamic extremist Shimon Koppel, one of the terrorists who had escaped a sting operation launched by Mossad. Apparently some sort of bomb maker from Ireland or some other place in the West had been hoping to sell a new product to Koppel's group but was busted along with most Koppel's people at the meeting. Koppel had escaped but was later tracked down by Idan, or at least that's what the papers said. Only Idan knew the truth and thinking of it over and over again made every step down the cold concrete staircase even harder. Either way he saw no alternative. If he confessed to being a pornography addict, a child pornography addict, he could very well wind up in the same cell Koppel was. This way he could keep his honour to the very end, provided that Uthman kept his blasted mouth shut. Idan finally reached a glass door and opened it to enter a small dark room where several other officers and the warden stood. Through the one way mirror all the occupants watched a senior Mossad officer scream at the silent body of Shimon Koppel. Koppel was still bleeding from the brief torture session he had received and his arm was significantly broken in several places. He sat motionlessly only peering at the mirror to the left of him. To Idan it felt like the man was peering into his soul. After a quick prayer of both forgiveness, and for Uthman to keep his word, Idan pressed several buttons on the confiscated telephone, detonating the plastic explosive which had been crammed into Koppel's rectum.

From across the prison Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb maker Alexandra Pallas's eyes opened wide when electronic door of her cell suddenly opened. Without hesitation she ran out into the stream of escaping prisoners and almost cried with joy.

"It actually worked!" she quietly squealed to herself as she and various other people labeled "terrorists" spread out throughout the prison. While many stupidly towards the obvious exits where heavily armed guards were waiting she ran into the women's shower room. The sprinkler system had already been activated and cold water rained down onto her naked body. A few days of being a cellmate in Israel's version of Guantanamo Bay had put various scars on her body. The largest one was from the beating she received after killing the man she was sharing a cell with after he tried to force himself upon her.

"Now if he was a bit cuter it would have been a different story," she exclaimed to herself as she rubbed the scar on her back. Finally she reached the shower she used most often and went toward the large drain. Idan had promised to have taken out all the screws securing the grating into place and to her luck he had lived up to his side of the deal. In moments she was down into the dirty sewage water and running toward freedom.

On the other side of the drain a fit young man paced back in forth nervously smoking a cigarette. He had green eyes, brown hair, and was swearing a business suit. Several expressionless mercenaries stood together on the small boat they had arrived on wearing basic military fatigues. One was dumping the bodies of the two men who were guarding the drainage pipe into the sea. They were all armed with silenced MP5 submachine guns. The brown haired man looked away from the weapons which ran chills down his spine and instead continued pacing. Finally the terribly foul smelling Alexandra emerged from the pipe. The brown haired man attempted to help her up after she fell one some slippery rocks caused by the sewer run off but was rewarded with a punch to the face.

"Listen pedo, if you ever touch me again and I will grab one of those guns you fear so much and make you kiss my feet before blowing your brains out, I've done it before Anatole!" Pallas screamed at the green eyed Frenchman. Anatole Philieppe lay in the river caused by the sewer runoff staring terrified at Pallas. The naked woman climbed aboard the small boat and began mingling with the now excited mercenaries as Anatole climbed out of the disgusting fluid surrounding him and was helped aboard by one of the hired killers. The boat sped off into the night with Anatole questioning if he had finally crossed a line that he would regret for a long time.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2: Angry Arrival

The large DC10 airplane touched down in Jerusalem with James Bond aboard it. Although he didn't show it while exiting the plane, he was quite perturbed M had assigned him a new mission so quickly after the botched Japan job. If there was one thing James hated besides failing a mission it was losing a partner, especially a competent partner at that. The fact that Double-Oh-Seven found Aki quite attractive as well didn't help things either, nonetheless he was in a black limousine headed towards one of Mossad's headquarters. It was quite hot out and Bond thanked himself for putting on one of his blue polo's and a pair of tan trousers before boarding the plane. Upon arrival the driver opened the door for Double-Oh-Seven and he stepped inside the building. It was a strange going from the stone buildings of Jerusalem to the office like atmosphere of the inner building. Armed military personnel roamed the area in full body armour with their weapons ready. The place consisted of two floors, one open area with various people running around and the second which was more cubicle like. A short man with traditional Jewish hair greeted him and led him into his office in the lower area of the building. Bond sat in a comfy leather chair while the man, wearing a name tag labeled Herve Mahmoud, greeted him and showed him his laptop with the picture of a giant prison facility with smoke billowing from it.

"This is one of our maximum security offshore prisons, it was damaged last night in an explosion which killed half the staff and released 75 of the prisoners," Herve exclaimed.

"M didn't exactly give me much of a briefing, I was simply told to board a plane to Jerusalem instead of back home to England," James replied truthfully. The Arabic man laughed before turning serious and continuing to explain the facts.

"The people being held here aren't just criminal Mr. Bond, their terrorists, mostly Islamic but some foreigners to this part of the world as well, like this one," Mahmoud pushed a button to reveal the file photo of a young and attractive Irish girl. She was the typical white female with blonde hair and green eyes. The hair went down past her shoulders. In the picture she looked to have put up a fight upon her arrest judging from her various bruises. Her most significant feature was a scar running across her face and connecting the side of her mouth to her missing earlobe.

"Alexandra Pallas," Double-Oh-Sevens stated before Herve could continue. "Member of the current IRA a and explosives expert, only known activates have been the bombing of two English banks and the seduction and killing of a British solder returning from the Gulf War"

"Quite the nasty girl, when Mi6 heard she was one of the escapees from the prison they immediately informed us they would send an agent down to find her, we had only caught her selling an incredibly powerful plastic explosive to one of our own radical groups a few days ago and were planning to notify your agency and let you have her."

"Any leads on how the whole thing happened?"

"Well one of the local policemen followed a lead that caused him and his partner Nadav Uthman to arrest one of the extremists who escaped the bust that caught Pallas, a man named Shimon Koppel. Uthman and the surviving guards claim that he was walking rather funny, and unfortunately we never did a cavity search,"

"Why a cavity search?" Bond asked.

"Well simply because according to the surviving security footage the explosion came from within Koppel, we believe it was this powerful explosive of Pallas's, hidden in Koppel's rectum."

"Any other facts I should know about?"

"A couple, for one the men we had guarding the main drainage pipe were found dead, each floating face down full of best estimate is that one of the escaping prisoners, most likely, Ms. Pallas had gotten out of the facility through there and met up with an aiding faction. The grate in one of the woman's showers was found removed which would explain how she got into the pipe to begin with."

Bond sat still in the chair pondering the facts. Someone from outside the deal between Alexandra and Koppel's group had organized her escape. The thing that trouble him most was that to set off Koppel someone had to be working on the inside, and because a standard uniform police officer has somehow magically got a tip leading to Koppel's capture, the inside man was most likely Idan.

"Have you interviewed the other officer responsible for Koppel's arrest?" Bond asked.

"We have him in the basement of this very building. When we went to find Idan's apartment we found the entire complex on fire, Idan's room being the source of the blaze,"

"Funny how coincidences like that suddenly happen," Bond remarked.

"Indeed Mr. Bond, however a resident got a look at a man leaving Idan's apartment shortly before the fire started. We have his location ready for you and one our operatives to go investigate," Mahmoud finished.

"Thank you for the lead," James stood up to leave the room when he suddenly sat back down to ask another question, "What about the 74 other terrorists?"

"After revealing the event to our friends in the intelligence community the German BND and American FBI have sent their own teams to help recapture them. Your agency has sent agents as well, but has tasked you in charge of finding Pallas,"

"Okay then, I'm going to check into a hotel to get my equipment, get your agent to meet me there and we'll go investigate our mystery man," Bond said.

Mahmoud simply nodded and let Bond depart. As Double-Oh-Seven headed back to the limousine he began to ponder the situation. A member of the IRA running lose with a new even more potent form of plastic explosive, and 74 wanted self labeled "revolutionaries" spreading anti Isreali propaganda throughout the country, either way the Middle East had just gotten a little deadlier.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3: Visitors

The various forms of traffic in Jerusalem danced around the black car as Bond peered out its window at the beautiful Dome of Rock. Although he would possibly be heading back to Israel to aid in the prison break cleanup he decided to take in the many sites now while he still had the chance. Bond had enjoyed a rejuvenating standard shower before he was picked up at the hotel. First a hot spray followed by an ice cold rinse and then into the car with government license plates driven by Vladimir Solvasky. Vladimir's family had moved to Isreal in the early 60s to escape the injustice of communism, and the family had a history of serving with various departments of the Israeli military. Solvasky didn't say much as they motored along Jerusalem's busy streets and up to a quiet residence located on the outskirts of the city. It was a Western style house made of stone and had to large olive coloured garage doors. Vladimir parked in the driveway directly facing the right garage door.

"I'll go check the place out," he exclaimed in a thick Russian accent. Bond nodded and lightly felt his concealed, Walther P99 pistol. Solvasky, dressed in a standard black suit with matching pants and dress shoes, approached the door and knocked.

Inside the house four of the mercenaries who aided in Pallas's escape were busy packing up their things for the future trip to Paris. Upon hearing the knock, the shortest of the three, an Indian man in a red t-shirt sent orders to the other.

"Julio, Mathew, you two get downstairs and secure the Frenchman's stuff. Danilo you follow me to the door but stay out of site. Everyone grab your guns," he finished. The four mercenaries grabbed their weaponry and headed to their designated positions. The leader, Pascual Tancedo, kept his submachine gun held behind him as he opened up the door.

"How may I help you sir?" he asked politely to the black haired man before him.

"I need to examine the premises for a suspect in a police investigation," Vladimir replied while also noticing the heavy build of the man.

"Right away, I'll have one of my friends open the door for you," Pascual finished. The government agent nodded and headed back to the car with Bond sitting patiently in the passenger seat. The second Tancedo closed the door he ordered Danilo to open fire upon the car once the garage door began opening.

Double-Oh-Seven drew his pistol and held it across his lap as Solvasky opened his door and sat in the driver's seat, starting up the car in the process.

"There opening the garage door for us," he quickly told Bond.

"Rather odd if this is the right place, perhaps we got the wrong address? "Bond asked. The two watched as the garage door began opening but were surprised when an armed man stood directly behind the now open door.

"Get down!," yelled Vladimir, pushing himself and Bond down as 9mm rounds began tearing through the windshield. Solvasky hammered his foot down on the gas pedal and the car sped forward catching Danilo against the hood and smashing itself into the back wall of the garage. Danilo's ribcage and inner organs were instantly crushed upon impact, killing him. Before the two government agents had time to recover Pascual had opened up the laundry room door which led to the garage and fired his own gun at the damaged vehicle. James opened his door and fell out of the vehicle mildly banging his shoulder in the process. He aimed upwards and fired two shots at Tancedo one missing while the other hit him in the left hand, causing him to drop his weapon. Pascual fled back inside as his silenced MP5 clattered onto the garage floor below. Although his shoulder felt like it was on fire Bond kept his Walther trained at the door as Vladimir came to his Double-Oh-Seven's side, picking up the fallen submachine gun and checking the remaining clip. The two entered the small laundry room and then entered the house. There were two basic hallways, one leading from the front door to the main are and another intersecting it leading from the kitchen to the bedrooms. Bond noticed a trail of blood going down to the bedroom area. James and Vladimir decided to split up, Bond would follow the trail while Vladimir inspected the kitchen and basement.

James Bond crept silently following the trail left by the retreating mercenary. His left hand rubbed gently against his right shoulder as he reached two doors. He inspected the one directly in front of him and found nothing but half packed suitcases and several passports. Tickets for a flight to Paris were lying on the bed. Double-Oh-Seven opened up the other door and entered another room. Besides a dresser, bed and night table the room was fairly plain and the blood trail only led into the bathroom. Gunfire began to echoe from the basement but James knew he had to finish searching this area before possibly aiding Solvasky. Bond opened the closed door and turned to the right to see a large mirror overlooking the entire washroom. James began to close the door beside him to get a good look to his right. _**Crash! **_The glass door of the nearby stand in shower suddenly smashed into Bond, exploding into fragments of glass. The blow was especially severe to his already injured shoulder and it caused Double-Oh-Seven to drop his pistol. The Indian mercenary from before grabbed Bonds throat with his bare hands and banged Double-Oh-Seven's head into the ceramic bathroom sink causing him to fall to the tiled floor. Before the British agent could recover Pascual Tancedo was already on top of Bond slowly choking him to death. With his air supply running low and the blow to his head making him feel dizzy Bond was running out of time. In a last ditch effort, the British spy managed to grab a shard of glass off the floor and swiped it across Tancedo's neck, slashing his throat. The Indian man fell to the floor clutching his neck and choking on his own blood. Double-Oh-Seven staggered back into the bedroom and fell onto the bed, slipping into unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4: Rude awakenings

"You've really pissed me off you know that," A voice exclaimed out of nowhere. James Bond opened his eyes to find himself in a dark room which stank of rotting wood. The whole place seemed to be rocking back and forth; it was obvious that he was at sea. Double-Oh-Seven tried to move his arms and legs but he was securely fastened to a wooden chair with rope. Bond ignored the splitting headache he was suffering and attempted to adjust to the darkness of the room. A single light eventually turned on revealing to Bond that he was currently at sea in some sort of boat. A brief memory of a previous torture session made James suddenly inspect his body, discovering he was at least fully clothed. A single figure stood before him chewing a sliced apple. He had a brown curly moustache, green eyes, and was wearing civilian clothing.

"Not only did you force me to cancel my flight back to Paris but you end up shooting up my Israel safe house and killing some very expensive mercenaries, actions like this don't exactly put you in my good books," the French man exclaimed as he peered deeply into Bond's ice cold blue eyes.

"Where am I," Double-Oh-Seven asked now fully alert to his current predicament.

"Aboard my floating studio," Anatole Philieppe remarked.

"What do you mean?" Bond asked curiously. Philieppe briefly chuckled to himself while Double-Oh-Seven's eyes roamed around the room looking for anything that could aid in his escape, finally setting his eyes upon a small knife lying on a stool near the closed door to the room.

"I must admit my little friend I'm quite disappointed, I thought the Israel secret service would have unraveled the mystery to Zusman Idan's betrayal. Let me fill you in then, Idan was a pedophile,"

"A what?" Bond responded in complete disbelief.

"A pedophile, just like me. It's a simple set up really, I take commands from a child prostitution ring located in Paris. They give me the children and I take them here to my studio where I make the movies. Lucky enough for you I had a totally different assignment this week meaning no kids onboard and no live shows I'm afraid. Once the children have been filmed, I have the guards throw them overboard since most of them are too young to swim anyway. I then take my productions to my different safe houses across Europe and the Middle East and have the videos delivered to a wide assortment of clients. Idan was one of my regulars and blackmailing him into cooperating in my boss's plan was quite easy," the child pornographer exclaimed. Bond had a lot of different things running through his mind at the moment and the rape and defilement of children was one that got his blood boiling every second.

"You've got to find a way out of here and report to Mossad or Mi6, don't let your emotions blur your vision James, if you can get any sort of help you can save more youth from suffering the same fate," Bond said to himself. He allowed a brief period of time to cool down and decided to try and turn the tables on the interrogation.

"What does freeing a bunch of terrorists have to do with child pornography?" Double-Oh-Seven coolly asked.

"Ah but we didn't care for all of them, the whole thing was to get our hands on Alexandra Pallas, one of the prisoners there. The boss has some private mission he wanted her to aid him in so he asked me if I had any political pull in Israel and I told him about Zusman. We had him visit the prison and leave notes to Pallas hidden in the woman showers, she replied back about how he could contact an escapee from the day of her capture, a Mr. Shimon Koppel. The boss convinced Koppel to the bombing and Koppel gave his location to Idan for the arrest. The mercs and I got Pallas out of the country while we stayed behind to clean up all the evidence and leave the country. Then **you** came in," Philieppe spat. The tall Frenchman left momentarily to grab a portable DVD player and the stool with the knife on it from the back of the room. He placed the player on the stool open and facing James while he went behind Bond and held his eyes open.

"Have you ever viewed a young child being molested? Although the kid is way too young to even understand what is happening to them, the amount of psychological damage they suffer from is breathtaking. Even a normal man who finds such material disgusting and sick can get emotionally scarred for the rest of his life. I'm going to show you a couple my uninvited guest, as its still over three hours before we reach Paris and this video is only two. I must admit I am somewhat ashamed at my lack of length in the penile area but at least to the kids it's still big," Bond's antagonist cackled in pleasure. As one hand held Double-Oh-Seven's head back and right eye open, Philieppe's arm reached over to press play on the DVD player. Something clicked in Bond's mind. It was now or never.

With a large surge of energy James Bond jerked his head forward, escaping Philieppe's grip and forcing his teeth into the child molester's wrist. The Frenchman screeched in pain as he fell to the floor, bleeding as he went. Bond fell backwards onto Philieppe, pinning him between the chair and the floor boards, he then kicked over the stool, smashing the DVD player. While the Frenchman was temporarily no longer an issue James squirmed until his arms finally loosened and he was able to break them free of the rope. Double-Oh-Seven swiftly untied his legs and grabbed the knife up off the floor. He ran back over to Philieppe, tossing the chair off of the terrified pedophile and lifting him up by his long brown hair.

"Who else is on the boat?" Bond asked savagely.

"Just my last mercenary, this boat is quite small and we're in the main compartment, I keep this room sound proofed because the men don't like hearing me while I film," Philieppe quickly blurted out. He was nervous and desperately craving one of his cigarettes. Double-Oh-Seven dragged Philieppe over to the door at the far side of the room and opened it.

"Call him," James exclaimed into his hostage's ear as he pushed the knife up against the scared man's throat.

"Jin get down here for a moment," The Frenchman exclaimed.

"Good, now get over by the stool and keep your mouth shut," Bond ordered.

Philieppe sat down on the floor shaking for several seconds before Jin entered the room.

"Boss what's going o-," before he could finish his sentence Double-Oh-Seven grabbed the Korean male's head from behind and snapped his neck. Philieppe screamed in terror as the body hit the floor and Bond searched the corpse for any weapons, finding only a small calibre pistol and a cell phone.

"Stick around for a while," Double-Oh-Seven said as he left the room, locking the door from the outside behind him.

Double-Oh-Seven ascended a short flight of stairs and found himself in the steering area. A nearby GPS stated he wasn't too far from Israel. Bond dialed Mossad's headquarters on the phone and gave them his location. After a brief conversation Bond was informed of Vladimir's forced escape from the house upon hearing the arrival of Philieppe's remaining mercenary, not knowing how many more men had arrived. He had managed to pick a plane ticket off of one the two men he shot in the basement and once he was safely away from the premises called for backup.

"Tell him not to worry about leaving me, he knew his priorities," Bond exclaimed. The tired and still not completely stable British spy opened up a nearby briefcase in the small room. Inside was a list of contacts, the location of the child prostitution ring's headquarters and most importantly the word "Financial Friends Ltd". Bond recognized the name but was too disoriented to really think of its meaning. The important thing was Mossad would now have everything they needed to take out Philieppe's organization. With that in mind the British agent returned to the studio room where Philieppe was bleeding. Double-Oh-Sevens immense shadow enveloped the Frenchman as he stood in the doorway.

"What are you going to do to me?" the scared child pornographer asked as he clutched his wrist. Bond stared into the terrified eyes of the shaking child molester and without a word squeezed the trigger of the stolen pistol until it was empty


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5: Risky Business

"Do you know why I called you in here Jacob?" Tom Gallagher asked. The 60-year-old tall Caucasian man stared blankly into the face of one the partners to his organization, Jacob Gallagher. The African American man sat quietly in his seat starting back at his foster father, shaking in fear. Sweat dripped down his face as he trembled in sight of the large powerful man. Tom was overweight but since he was part owner of one of the largest banks in the world, his abundance of body fat meant nothing compared to his social status. Wearing a white collared shirt and a blue tie his feet echoed with every step as he inched himself closer to Jacob.

"I ask you to do one thing Jacob, all you had to do was keep an eye on Anatole, make sure he gets home to Paris, NOT ALLOW FRENCH ATHORITIES TO RAID MY WAREHOUSES AND RUIN MY ENTERPRISE!" Tom shouted as he threw down a newspaper. The front page story was on French authorities cracking down on a large child prostitution ring and seizing all its assets. Hundreds of children had been released to their guardians or taken into psychological treatment all over Europe. Police believed most of the members of the organization had been arrested and with the loss of so much equipment and funding such a large scale operation would no longer be able to run. Jacob stood up and was face to face with his enraged father. In the 15 years of working for him he had never upset the man so much, the thought of the punishment alone made him begin to tear.

"Not only have you compromised my old organization, but you have put our current operation at risk. If we fail this son, the entire purpose of you and your siblings will be eradicated," Tom exclaimed surprisingly calm. Jacob continued to stand there with tears flowing freely from his eyes. He knew his father was even worse when he was calm. One thing Tom Gallagher craved was power; it was a disorder for him. Financially, politically, emotionally, and especially sexually the man lived simply to exert his dominance over others.

"Get on your knees son," Tom almost whispered. Without hesitation the emotionally scarred Jacob got on his knees and obeyed.

"I'm pushing up the timetable for the objective, we'll launch the party two days ahead of schedule, for now however I think it's about time I exerted some authority, AND SHOW YOU WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FAIL YOUR FATHER!" Tom screamed. With liquid pouring from his eyes Jacob opened his mouth wide as Tom began to remove his pants.

"Financial Friends Limited," M exclaimed as she stood before Bond in one of the briefing rooms in Mi6. The room was made of almost completely of glass except for the floor and ceiling. James Bond felt fully refreshed after a few days home after his flight back from Israel. Mossad had placed him in first class for the flight back, and thanked him for his services.

"A large banking firm that started as and continues to be a partnership shared between the owner Tom Gallagher and his 19 adopted children. The company popped up less than 15 years ago in Europe and just recently has moved its main headquarters to the United States. What it has in common with the agency that employed the now deceased Anatole Philieppe is unknown. The French have already checked out all the documents they seized from their massive raid on the pornography ring but very few have much to do with Gallagher's company. For all we know they could simply have an account there," she finished.

"Any word from the Americans since we notified them of the connection," James Bond questioned as he sat still in a black leather chair in the small room.

"We have told them, but since we lack so much evidence they see no threat, not to mention the fact that Gallagher is apparently launching a large party in New York where he plans to invite the owners of many of the dying American businesses for financial aid. The recession the U.S.'s economy is going through is a large issue, big enough that if you think you can remedy the problem then you'll be treated as a king. The Americans fear that any type of intrusion into the background of Mr. Gallagher may agitate him, so they asked us to do it,"

"Us?"

"Well yes, if a man comes snooping through Tom's files and turns out to be NSA or FBI Gallagher might very well pack up and leave, if it's you, someone from outside of the country, he's more likely to believe it's an agent working for a rival banking firm. Your friend in the CIA, Felix Leiter I believe, has volunteered to keep an eye on you while you go do a little investigating, maybe you can find some dirt on Mr. Gallagher? Best case scenario is he's clean,"

"And the worst case?"

"We'll find our missing bomber," M finished. She gracefully opened the glass door to the room and left, dropping plane tickets to New York in Double-Oh-Seven's lap.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6: Party Time

"Ready for another adventure James?" the cheery CIA operative asked Double-Oh-Seven.

"You know me Felix, if this job didn't keep me one edge I'd probably be a drunk," James Bond exclaimed with a smirk as he stepped out of his beautiful Aston Martin. Bond looked up at the large Financial Friends owned building that loomed before him, Felix Leiter did the same.

"Me and a couple guys will be keeping an eye on you from afar with the a scope,"

"I'll try my best not to get into too much trouble," Double-Oh-Seven replied. Bond gave his friend a quick wave goodbye before heading into the large building. A pistol armed doorman took a stern look at the British agent until Bond flashed a document stating he was a representative for Universal Exports, resulting in the guard nodding in approval and opening the door. The first thing he noticed besides the beautifully matching floor and ceiling of the first floor was the large metal detectors guarding the main elevators to the party floor. Without a word Bond quietly stepped through them and hopped into the nearest lift.

"Good thing I left the Walther in the car," Bond told himself as him and a few fellow quests ascended to the 6th floor. Once the door opened with a large mechanical _**thunk! **_The expansive 6th floor that lay before him looked like a set from a movie. People frolicked from one area to another. Rich and powerful CEOs laughed heartily with rival businessmen and their wives. Guards subtly patrolled the room, their Berretta pistols remaining hidden underneath their dinner jackets. Double-Oh-Seven quickly made sure his own suit and attire was up to par before heading towards the only thing that looked like it would amuse him, the bar.

A few drinks later James Bond was still surveying the scene. Finally a tall, white haired man with a belly like Khris Kringle stood up on a large podium, overlooking the festivities.

"Hello there, ladies and gentlemen," Tom Gallagher's voice boomed over the microphone. Bond noticed that by his side stood two of Tom's adopted family, Rosy and Kate Gallagher.

"I welcome you all here in friendship, and compassion," by this time all conversations had stopped and all eyes were on Gallagher. "It isn't easy in the business world, as a young man growing up in Africa, violence and hatred was something that was so common to me. Eventually my family moved from the area into the safety of Europe and after a series of small businesses I finally hit it big. I owe this all to my children really, 19 may seem like a lot to some of you, maybe even too many. The saying in my family has always been the same, the bigger your immediate family the bigger your heart. Now my fellow business men, I will show you what having a big heart really means. For in three days my friends, my company will hand out loans to the struggling companies that lie before me, and they will be," Tom suddenly paused in an effort to excite his audience, "Interest Free!"

The room literally exploded into a chorus of applause and whistles as Gallagher modestly descended from the stage. Various people went forward to attempt to speak with Gallagher about the matter, while wordlessly his guards came forward to keep them at bay and simply explained that each person would receive a call from Gallagher in the next 24 hours to set up a meeting. James Bond made a quick survey of the room. Distracted guards meant no one was watching the elevator. He quickly remembered the map Felix had shown him prior to arriving and without a second to spare ran towards the elevator and entered it. Bond pressed the button for the highest floor in the building but to no avail, the lift simply sputtered a noise and remained motionless.

"So he's restricted the lift," the British spy quietly said to himself. After pondering what to do for a couple minutes Bond reached upward and pushed open the emergency hatch at the top of the lift. He grabbed on to the sides of the small square hole in the roof of the lift and hoisted himself up onto the top of it. Double-Oh-Seven sighed, looking up at how far the top floor was, and the size of the massive cable he would have to climb.

After a strenuous ascent, Bond leapt off the cable on to the small ledge attached to the top elevator door. Armed with a fire axe he managed to find during his climb Double-Oh-Seven smashed the metallic end of it into the door. The door suddenly opened and one of the security staff appeared. The lone guard peered over the edge, unaware of the wooden end of the axe that smashed into his skull from the right. Bond caught the unconscious body before it fell into the abyss below and laid the man down outside the elevator, taking his gun in the process. Double-Oh-Seven peered around the large office he was in, Gallagher's office. The only light on was the one at the desk where a newspaper lay but it was powerful enough to light up most of the room. The unconscious guard had most likely been reading. African head masks and paintings littered the room, proving Gallagher told the truth to some degree. Bond walked past a single chair in the room as he made his way up to Gallagher's wood desk. He sat down in the large seat and began going through the surprisingly unlocked drawers.

"Find anything interesting?" A voice echoed from an unlit portion of the room. James Bond immediately pointed his gun at the spot where the voice had come from as Alexandra Pallas stepped into view. She wore a green evening dress and sat down at gunpoint in the chair before Bond, raising her hands to prove that she was no threat.

"Well Ms. Pallas, I've been searching all over the world for you, even met up with your buddy Anatole on a boat headed to Paris, can't say it ended well for him, Bond exclaimed smugly.

"That pervert means nothing to me, and if you didn't kill him I probably would have. This may come as a shock to you but I know everything about you James,"

"How?" Bond asked, indeed he was shocked but kept his hand steady on his drawn pistol, in case Pallas was bluffing.

"One of the men who is working with your pal Leiter, Ryan Manners I believe, is a spy for Tom. He was bought off the day Gallagher and his family came to America and the second he found out about the operation he volunteered to work alongside Felix. The second you leave this building trying to reveal any information, you and your CIA pals will be killed."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I only signed up for this gig for two reasons; to make the dying IRA some money, and to get my ass out of prison. If you think I'd like to see Tom get away with this crazed plan of his then you must also think pigs can fly."

"What's he planning?" Bond asked as he began to stand up.

"I don't know to be honest, whatever it is he made me a build dozens of my undetectable explosive for him," Alexandra finished. From behind the female terrorist Bond began to hear a metal screech as the elevator began to rise. Alexandra uttered a four letter word.

"He must be coming back up, listen James you have a choice, you can either give me that gun and make it seem like I caught you snooping or you can blow my brains out right here. I should warn you though, Gallagher has quite the temper and would literally have his bouncers kill every guest at this party if he believed you had gotten away with enough information to ruin his operation and gotten it into safe hands." Double-Oh-Seven stood still pondering over the facts. With very little time left before the elevator reached Gallagher's office he quietly prayed he had made the right choice and tossed his weapon to Pallas.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 7: Caught!

_**Thunk! **_Bond hit the red carpeted floor of Tom Gallagher's office with a thud after the burly man buried his fists into the spy's stomach. A brief attempt by Double-Oh-Seven to get on his feet was rewarded with a kick to the ribs.

"GLAD YOU COULD JOIN THE PARTY!" Gallagher screamed at Bond. He stepped away from the wounded secret agent and laid his back up against his desk. Alexandra Pallas simply turned away as another familiar face, Nori Hiroshi, lifted Double-Oh-Seven up off the floor and into an waiting chair.

"You must be confused Mr. Bond, let me break everything down for you," Mr. Gallagher exclaimed. "As you already know the lovely Ms. Pallas had been working on a brand new and incredibly potent form of explosive. Many people can be true nationalists without turning to terrorism Mr Bond. It usually takes an additional defect in a person to cause them to turn to such violent means to prove their obedience to a certain cause. Luckily enough for me, a member of the current IRA circle suffers from the psychological defect of pedophilia, so when I had asked Philieppe to search his clients for a bomber it wasn't long before Alexandra's name came up. Unfortunately shortly upon discovering her new product she was off on a sale to the terrorist group the Dual Sabres, one which Shimon Koppel was a member. When I got in contact with him and mentioned the fact that freeing Ms. Pallas after that unexpected Mossad bust via suicide bombing would also release other fellow religious fanatics he agreed."

"What are you up to Gallagher?" James Bond asked, he sat in the chair panting for breath.

"But of course, my nefarious plot. Well Mr. Bond, you probably heard last night that I was born in Africa. This is true, however the reason for our prior lodging in such a violent area is due to the nature of my father's profession, and he was an arms dealer. While growing up I became a delivery boy for my father, but my lust for power made me want to surpass him. Finally the day came when I encountered a general currently using child soldiers for battle. He taught me a very important lesson Mr. Bond, would you like to hear it?"

"Knock yourself out," Bond practically coughed. Tom Gallagher sat down on the floor in front of his captive. Brown chestnut eyes gazed into Double-Oh-Seven's as he spoke.

"Beat a child enough and by the age of ten you can have him fighting wars for you. Molest him, defile him, mentally break him, take away every ounce of innocence he has left Mr. Bond and that child will rape his own mother upon your command."

"You sick bastard," Bond spat back at Tom. The large man simply roared with laughter and stood back up.

"The years went on and I found a rapid increase in the number of child soldiers being used in my beloved home, but I also noticed something else, as I went from camp to camp, militia to militia. Similarly to me, these men craved sexual power, but as I could sense, wanted a little more…diversity from the usual black boy or girl. So being a talented entrepreneur I made other, let's say flavours for them available, and very soon I had not only African clients, but clients all over the world. Although no one wants to admit it Mr. Bond, pedophilia is a disease, but a very profitable one if you're smart." Bond sat perfectly still as things began to dawn on him.

"So you started a child prostitution/ pornography ring?"

"And because of it I became a millionaire!" Gallagher exclaimed merrily. "I was making more money than I could ever dream off. Since the whole world was occupied with the Cold War at the time people weren't looking into the exploitation of children, the only thing the world cared about was who had more nukes, Russia or the United States. I continued my organization for years when something else occurred to me. It was the fact that the amount of money that was going into this arms race between the Soviet Union and the West was phenomenal. Not only that, but with the way the States seemed to want to police the world I was sure when all the money began to run dry the country would eventually need financial help. With such a negative view on socialist practices, there would be nothing stopping America from an economic recession down the line, its basic economic theory. So I prepared for something else, the opportunity of a lifetime. I selected 37 children from the collection my pornography organization had kidnapped and I took up the general's advice. I victimized each and every one of them over and over again, fulfilling my need for sexual dominance and more importantly, ravaging their minds and making them obedient, like little machines. I then began to teach them, educate them in the ways of business, on how to conquer the financial world Mr. Bond, everything from management to accounting. I lost a few along the way, some had psychological breakdowns, while others had to be used as examples to the rest, but after decades of this I finally had the ideal workforce to move into banking. And now look where I am today, I am about to take out the greatest democracy in history. I have already contacted the greatest enemy of the United States, China, and even let Nori Hiroshi's yakuza gang borrow my son Jurek Spiridon, the assassin you chased after in Japan, to show how serious I am about my goals." Bond sat blankly in the chair unaware of what to do. Gallagher wasn't just an egomaniac, the man was psychotic. Even Pallas's face was one of sheer amazement as she stood in the corner, listening to the man babble on about his insane life story.

"In a couple of days my children, each with a hidden packet of Alexandra Pallas's miracle explosive on them, will enter the headquarters of a struggling United States company for an important meeting. At roughly the same time, each individual will inform the CEO, Board of Directors, and anyone else present in the meeting room that instead of having a loan deposited in the company account , they must hand over every penny in that account into my own or else my son or daughter will blow themselves sky high, killing them all."

"You're taking them hostage in their own building?"

"Precisely, and once the transaction is made, a small push of a button will eradicate every living person on that floor. So let me do a short recap for you Mr. Bond. I gain the millions of dollars in each firm's account. Top business leaders across this country will be killed. The sudden bankruptcy of each firm will cause the United States to plummet into another great depression which will have ripple effects that will devastate the rest of the world's economy drastically. Luckily for the Chinese however, careful banking and investment practices will result in them feeling the least of the blow, and still remaining an economic powerhouse. In the end the only options left to this poor deluded country will be to deal with the ramifications of possible civilian revolt due to the depression or borrowing extensively from China, one option resulting in China becoming the greatest economic power, and the other leading to its ability to dictate American decision making through financial blackmail. Either way Mr. Bond, the United States fails, and I sit on top of more money than God in a beautiful new apartment in Beijing, laughing as it burns away."

"There is no way in hell those poor warped individuals you call children will actually go through with this," Bond remarked back.

"Oh but they will Mr. Bond, if only you knew the extent of damage I have done to them, if only you heard them scream for you to stop in their dreams, if only you saw their fully grown adult figures fall to the floor in tears in obedience, accepting me as their one and only master, who they would go through hell and back to please. Oh Mr. Bond, I have turned those poor souls into machines, and machines NEVER disobey their owner. I must admit it is quite intriguing seeing you sitting there, mulling over my plan in your mind, too bad I can no longer afford to let you live, now that you know everything. Nori please do the honours," Gallagher finished. On cue the Japanese Yakuza boss drew a small blade from his waist and began to inch toward Bond.

"Wait!" Pallas suddenly blurted out. "We can't kill him."

""What are you talking about Pallas?" Tom asked rather surprised.

"If Mr. Bond's pals don't see him alive and well soon they'll believe something is up. We haven't even organized the business meets yet which means a raid by the American authorities will stop your goal right in its tracks,"

"You make a good point, though I could always accelerate the deadline of business meetings."

"Too risky, the best course of action would be to check Bond into a hotel, my sources tell me that he's a womanizer, perhaps him and I could go together. You know, make it seem like he's enjoying himself while Nori and a couple men keep a close eye on us," Pallas finished. Double-Oh-Seven sat in the chair completely flabbergasted. The same woman he had been planning to find and eliminate for the past week had just saved his life. To Nori Hiroshi's dismay Gallagher found in the wisdom in the Irish woman's words.

"Fine, clean him up and I'll check you two into a hotel," he exclaimed


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 8: Honeymoon

"Why'd you save my life back there?" James Bond asked. He was sitting handcuffed but comfortably on the large bed in the honeymoon suite of the Happy Dwellers hotel. The building sat right nearby one of the entrances to the Brooklyn Bridge which connected Manhattan to Brooklyn. Just opposite of the hotel was the current Financial Friends owned building. Alexandra came out of the bathroom after washing her blonde hair and sat down on the velvet sheeted bed, wearing a robe and holding a glass of Champaign in her right hand.

"I built those explosives for Gallagher for my own personal gain, not because I have any belief in this insane plot of his. The man must be a damned fool if he thinks ruining an entire country's economy is worth the all the money he plans to make. I'm all for the democracy James, its tyranny I'm against," she exclaimed, gulping down the beverage seconds later.

"It almost sounds funny, a terrorist who spends every day of her life plotting to end the lives of innocent people trying to tell me what is morally right and wrong," Double-Oh-Seven shot back. Pallas glared at him before tossing the fragile glass into the corner of the room and continuing the conversation.

"Every day you hear about the United Nations working to fight injustice in some third world country. A country where people been forced to live under another nations rule, yet if a country has been ruled by another after a certain amount of time there simply told to deal with it. Ireland is the perfect example."

"I don't exactly see the Irish having their basic human rights violated on a daily basis," Bond remarked. Pallas gave a sigh of surrender, removed her robe, and climbed under the sheets into bed. James eyed the large scar on her back as she rolled her body over so that she was facing away from him.

"Perhaps if you weren't so cute I probably would have let you die back in Tom's office," she said, somewhat flirtingly.

"That can't be the only reason I'm still alive."

"Well that and I couldn't exactly rat out Gallagher myself. Not only is it too risky but Tom has Hiroshi and his yakuza goons on me like a hawk."

"Where are they anyway?"

"Nori is in the room just beside ours, I think he has his men sleep in their car in the parking garage, having one roam the halls in case you make a break for it."

"What if I managed to slip past him?"

"Even if you did manage to escape this place without Ryan Manners being alerted and killing your friends there's still one problem. I still have no way to escape the country, meaning Id be caught by the authorities along with Gallagher."

"What a damn shame," James Bond exclaimed with a smile. Pallas simply laughed.

"Don't panic Mr. Bond, I'll release you when I have an escape plan of my own. I spotted your friends tailing us on our way here which means Ryan is watching the hotel as well," she finished. Bond sat quietly, thinking to himself as it finally occurred to him. He had actually partly enjoyed his conversation with the girl, he had even smiled. Double-Oh-Seven stared at the unconscious form not knowing what to do. Escape seemed to not be an option, but more troubling was the fact that ever passing moment his partnership with Pallas seemed to create something, some sort of connection between the two. It had gotten so bad that James Bond was beginning to have trouble seeing her as a target for termination; she was beginning to grow on him, something that never ended well for Double-Oh-Seven.

In an above ground parking complex not far from the hotel, CIA agent and friend of James Bond, Felix Leiter slouched up against a dark government surveillance van. He briefly began scratching his face but momentarily stopped when one of his accomplices appeared.

"Your turn to keep an eye on the lovebirds and company," the fellow agent said, referring to the scope they had set up to watch the exits of the Happy Dwellers hotel. Felix nodded and headed toward the tripod mounted telescope, avoiding numerous discarded cigarettes as he went. Halfway through however, he was called back to the van by the fellow agent.

"Leiter you have to take a look at this," the other operative exclaimed. Leiter jogged back to the van and quickly read an email on the screen of a blue government laptop.

"SON OF A BITCH!" he shouted in frustration.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 9: A Lunch to Remember

Bond glanced up from his food at Alexandra. The woman had been nice enough to get Hiroshi's men to buy him one of his favourite shirts, a blue polo. The two sat in the restaurant area of the hotel eating some delicious sandwiches. They had been staying at the hotel for a couple days now and Bond could feel the two were growing on each other. While James stared up at her well rounded face, Palla's eyes caught his in a brief moment of awkwardness. After a couples seconds of silence she swallowed her mixture of cheese, ham, and whole wheat and spoke.

"Join us," the slightly older of the two suddenly blurted out.

"What are you talking about?" Double-Oh-Seven asked.

"Once this is all over we'll be enemies again. Which means one of us will have to die, unless you join me." Bond's face suddenly changed from one of charm and wonder to stone, the face he had on only when he killed people.

"Don't ask me something stupid like that, it would be like me asking you to surrender and follow me back to a holding cell in London."

"You seemed pretty friendly when I returned with that shirt of yours today."

"A rare moment of weakness I'm afraid."

"Well you can't blame me if that same weakness caused me to actually give a damn about you," Pallas shot back, clearly upset. Without a word she stood up and stormed out of the area, leaving Bond alone. It was a challenge being in the situation he was in, having an enemy who had managed in a short period of time to earn at least a portion of his respect. It was hard to admit the truth that she was a dangerous enemy who he would have to kill the second this Gallagher business was over with, but it was the truth nonetheless. He didn't love her, hard to grow such a bond with an enemy, but he could sense that there was a sense of companionship when he was around her, he could even sense an attraction developing between them. Either way thinking of their eventual confrontation down the line left a bitter taste in Double-Oh-Seven's mouth. He got up and headed back up to the room.

James Bond stared at the open door to the honeymoon suite. It was possible that Pallas had paid it a visit, but why keep the door unlocked? Bond quickly entered the room flexing his wrists as he entered. It had been nice of Pallas to remove his handcuffs for the time being, especially since he would be wearing them for the trip back across the bridge the following morning. As it occurred to Bond that tomorrow Gallagher's army of traumatized business people would be preparing for the climax of his plan a hard fist went flying directly into the back of Double-Oh-Seven's head. The spy fell backwards onto the ground while Nori Hiroshi appeared from the open closet, adjacent to the front door. In seconds the casino owner had closed the main door and delivered a powerful kick to Bond's ribcage.

"Think I forgot about you Bond, or is it Thatcher, I really can't tell anymore," he said with glee, delivering axe kick to James's face. Unfortunately for him Double-Oh-Seven moved his head in the nick of time and managed to strike the Japanese man in the thigh, knocking him off balance. Nori smashed into the nearby mirror as he fell and in seconds James Bond was over him, burying his thumbs into Hiroshi's eye sockets. Completely blinded and fearing for his life the Asian man shot his right knee into Bond's groin. Winded, the British agent fell backwards onto the wood floorboards. Nori climbed onto his opponent and was about to give Bond a punch to the throat when the door to the suite opened up, revealing the IRA bomb maker Pallas. Without hesitation she kicked Nori off of her current partner and promptly shot him right between the eyes with her silenced Beretta.

Ten minutes later Bond was lying comfortably on the bed while Pallas applied dressing to his wounds. A short phone call earlier revealed that Nori had not been instructed to do away with Double-Oh-Seven and that a couple freelance killers would be replacing Hiroshi's Yakuza thugs. James Bond looked into the beautiful eyes of his saviour as she continued to nurture him.

"Tomorrow Tom is bringing you back to his building," she exclaimed, showing a slight sense of concern.

"Yes, looks like tonight is the last night of our fake love affair," Bond remarked. As if on cue Pallas's head suddenly leapt forward, placing her lips against Bond's. After days of worrying what would come of their friendship once Gallagher was stopped the tension had finally reached its climax. Not even hesitating, James Bond slipped his tongue into the female terrorist's mouth. After a short kissing session Bond gently pushed her on to her back and began undressing her. For one solid hour Bond and Pallas were no longer sworn enemies, they were lovers, plain and simple.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 10: High-speed Combat

James Bond sat quietly in the back seat of a five person car. Two hired thugs, acting as guards, sat on either side of him with another driving. Other vehicles roared past the small red car as it crossed the Brooklyn Bridge. Bond didn't say a word, for underneath his tongue lay the keys to his handcuffs. Alexandra Pallas had left during the night, worked out an escape plan, and gotten Ryan Manners to back off. This meant that it was up to Bond how he wanted to make his getaway. Stealthily he brought his handcuffs up to his mouth, using his tongue to push the key upward so he could hold it in between his teeth. His eyes quickly darted upward making sure Felix's CIA surveillance van wasn't too far behind them. Upon confirmation Leiter was in place Bond unlocked the cuffs.

The henchman sitting to the right of Bond was completely caught off guard when his head was smashed into the nearby window by Double-Oh-Seven's elbow. In a swift movement James temporarily incapacitated the man to his right and drew the Desert Eagle protruding from his waist. He then aimed it at the most immediate threat, the former gang member to his left, and shot the man in the heart, instantly killing him. By this time the driver had drawn his MAC 10 submachine gun and was firing at James through his seat. Double-Oh-Seven managed to cleanly slide away from a spray of bullets and fired a shot back. Demolishing the man's head and causing his body to slump forward, his foot still on the gas. The vehicle began to rapidly increase speed and veer to the side, which would eventually result in it flying off the bridge. Bond swiftly opened up the left back door and grabbed a hold of the deceased gunman in the seat next to it. With proper timing Bond could jump out and use the dead body to take most of the impact for him. The highway zipped by underneath the car and Double-Oh-Seven was about to jump when he was violently pulled back by the now conscious thug to his right. The man pulled Bond up against him with his elbow pushing against the spy's throat, choking him. The Desert Eagle fell on to the floor of the car, out of reach. Scrambling for some means of escape Bond's arms reached behind his current captor and released the door behind them. In a last ditch effort the British spy pushed backwards into his opponent with all his might, sending them both out of the speeding car. The hired thug hit the ground with a _**crack, **_breaking his spine as he hit the ground. Bond rolled off of him, slightly injuring himself, but nothing too devastating. The speeding vehicle kept onward, eventually breaking through a barrier and sailing off the Brooklyn Bridge and into the water.

The CIA surveillance van came to a sudden stop and Leiter and another agent bolted out of it to help up his friend.

"You okay James?" he asked concerned, picking up his hurt friend.

"No time for that now Felix," Bond suddenly stopped to take a breath. "Tom Gallagher is planning to place explosives on each one of the people he has meeting the 19 chosen CEOs," Bond gasped upon finishing. In no time at all the other CIA operative whipped out his cell phone and called his superiors. After a long call the man informed James and Felix that the FBI would be on their way to Gallagher's building. The three made their way back into dark van and the driver began driving towards the nearest hospital.

"There's one more thing you should know Felix," Bond exclaimed as he lay on the floor of the van

"What is it James?" Leiter asked, crouched down beside his friend.

"One of your agents, a man named Ryan Manners, is actually a spy working for Tom Gallagher." Leiter stood still for a moment and then shook his head in disbelief.

"Actually James that's impossible,"

"And why's that?"

"The boys and I got a message from Langley a couple days ago. Bond, Ryan Manners is dead."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 11: Out with a Bang

Tom Gallagher sat perfectly still at his desk watching the camera footage which was being monitored on his computer. Battle ready FBI officers in tactical vests had begun spilling into the building. He watched angrily as one by one his children attempted to fight off the intruders but were reduced to corpses in mere seconds. It was over, his goal, his legacy, everything he had spent over 20 years planning had been reduced to ashes by one man, James Bond. On the screen before Gallagher the advancing FBI teams went from room to room opening fire on every armed personnel while getting the unarmed or surrendering people out of the building.

"YOU WON"T GET ME!" Tom screamed, violently throwing his computer into a nearby wall. Then he froze. The metal roar of the elevator could be heard while the lift full of FBI officers began to ascent to Gallagher's office. The nervous man began tearing out the drawers of his desk until all that was left was an empty space which housed small packets of Alexandra Pallas's revolutionary explosives. A sadistic grin spread across the maniac's face as he pulled one of the cell phones which were to act as detonators out of his back pocket.

"DIE!" Gallagher shouted at the top of his lungs as he punched in a four digit number activating the explosives just as the lift reached his floor.

From his hospital bed James Bond was having a déjà-vu moment. From the large wall mounted television in his room he could see the news airing the live explosion of the top few floors of the Financial Friends building. The reporter on the screen fled for cover; making a brief September 11th related comment as he ran. Black smoke billowed from the top of the building and the remaining members of the FBI team in the building began to evacuate. An hour after the massive explosion it was revealed that 16 FBI officers were presumed dead, along with 50 innocent employees, 25 security staff (including all 19 of Gallagher's children), and Tom Gallagher himself.

"Why didn't you tell me Pallas was ex Mi6?" Bond asked M. It was a week after Tom Gallagher had committed suicide in his building and the two members of Mi6 were back in the small glass briefing room.

"I'm sorry James, I wanted to but the Minister of Defence had other plans," M exclaimed, although she retained her serious face in her heart she was proud Double-Oh-Seven had stopped Gallagher, and more importantly that he was still alive.

"Tell me the whole story," Bond commanded.

"Very well, Ms. Pallas was an agent working for us at the same time you were, she showed a proficiency in demolitions and was one of my choices to be promoted to 00 status, my other choice was you. While I sent you to Prague to track down our traitor, Dryden, Alexandra was in Ireland. We had given her a prototype plastic explosive and set up a fake deal. Her job was to simply make the exchange and allow the IRA to get a hold of our explosive. Unknown to them however one of our best tracer bugs was inserted in the explosives, and we hoped they would lead us to one of their compounds. Instead a few hours after Pallas made confirmation with the enemy the bugs were deactivated. We believed afterwards that she had been planning this defection for a while."

"So this revolutionary explosive she had been planning to market was in fact our own?"

"Yes, also Bond unlike with you I told her that you were her competition for 00 status. I believe she spent hours reading your file and learning your habits, it defiantly explains how she knew your tendencies as well as recognized you when you entered the Financial Friends building."

"Any idea on how she identified Leiter and Ryan?"

"I have the unfortunate answer to that too. When I had informed the American CIA that Gallagher may have had a link to Philieppe's child pornography ring they allowed one of their agents to snoop around Europe for a connection. In the midst of his search thought, the man was captured by someone working with Pallas, more likely more IRA thugs. The CIA has informed us that the agent, one Ryan Manners, was found dead later. His remains indicate he died after receiving days of endless torture, and since he had knowledge of your trip to the States it is more than likely he's the one who blew your cover. The reason I was unable to tell you about Ms. Pallas's identity is because the Minister of Defence is still uneasy about your methods, he wanted to see if you could take out Pallas, proving that if she hadn't betrayed us you would still have been the better choice for 00 statues," M explained.

With all the knowledge he had requested Bond began to get up when M suddenly motioned him to sit back down. The old woman looked Bond sternly in the eyes as she spoke.

"Don' think I'm a fool Bond. I know all about the going ons between you and Alexandra, part of me wants to disapprove of…well let's face it you were sleeping with the enemy. I'm also not completely irrational as well, and I acknowledge that if it wasn't for her the United States would have been in an even worse state of financial despair, the Deputy Director of intelligence at Langley knows this two."

"What are you saying?" Double-Oh-Seven asked.

"If the CIA can find any clues on Ryan's remains they want you to track down Ms. Pallas, and offer her amnesty provided she is willing to change her ways and reveal the locations of all the other IRA cells she knows of."M said. Bond was taken completely by surprise. In all his years of working for Mi6 he had never seen M show so much compassion, the thought of Pallas having her entire criminal past erased was exciting, especially since it meant him and her could finally be something….meaningful. With a simple nod he left the room and ushered a single sentence as he made his way out of the building.

"So she really has a heart after all."


	13. Chapter 13

Epilogue

Alexandra Pallas sat at the wooden table with four of her fellow terrorists. Her eyes wandered around the table and stopped at the newest member sitting across from her. The man hadn't spoken a word upon entry to the lighthouse overlooking the Irish coast. He wore a large bullet proof vest, blue jeans, and a red baseball cap which slid down over his eyes. A green shirt could be seen protruding from under the vest. A small ringing noise could be heard from one of the more lively occupants as he tapped a spoon against his glass of whiskey.

"I propose a toast to the safe return of Ms. Pallas," one of the men cheered, it was followed with the clinking of glasses.

"I propose one as well," the silent figure at the far end of the table suddenly blurted out. In the split second it took Pallas to recognize the voice, James Bond had already thrown his glass of whiskey into the eyes the terrorist sitting to the left of him and hit him in the chest. Shooting upward out of his seat Bond twisted his body and fired a round from his Walther P99 into the face of the man to his right. The sudden action had caused his cap to fall off, revealing a head of thick black hair. Pallas stood completely frozen in shock as Bond whipped back around and fired at the remaining male terrorist, who lacked enough time to fully raise his small TMP submachine gun. Bond's eyes finally met those of Pallas's but the British spy still kept his gun trained on her.

"James," Pallas exclaimed in utter disbelief.

"I'm here to offer you amnesty," Bond said.

"What?" replied the confused Irish woman. The silenced Walther pistol was still trained on Pallas as Bond went around the table until he was just a few feet away from her.

"Provided you rat out your IRA pals you can be a free woman," Bond remarked lowering his weapon. Pallas's eyes began to well up with tears. She ran over to Bond and the two embraced. They stood perfectly still, holding each other passionately when out of the corner of his eye Double-Oh-Seven saw the quick flash of movement. Even with his incredible speed Bond was unable to stop the small dagger from piercing his vest, and lightly digger into his skin.

"What did you think James, that I would suddenly change sides for you? I told you our alliance was over once Gallagher was dead. Any thought that we could be anything more than enemies afterwards proves how weak you really are," Pallas exclaimed, using all her strength to push the dagger deeper into him. As he fell over Pallas whipped open the door behind them and began descending the large metallic steps that led towards the bottom of the light house. Bond struggled up and removed the blade from his stomach, although it was bloody he could feel it hadn't gone deep enough to kill him unless he bled to death. It was his pride that had been hurt. How could he have been so foolish to believe what him and her had developed back at the Happy Dwellers was enough to turn her to his side. She was the enemy, simple and true, and he was the man assigned to kill her. Double-Oh-Seven headed outside the door and onto the metallic staircase. Waves crashed into the jagged rocks surrounding the lighthouse and the sun was completely free of cloud coverage. James Bond could see Pallas still making her way down the winding steps, he knew he was in no shape to catch up to her and soon she would be out of sight. Without any hesitation he drew his gun and fired.

Pallas was halfway down the large staircase when a 9mm tore through her left foot. Losing balance she fell sideways, desperately trying to grab hold of some sort of guardrail, but there was nothing. With a scream she plummeted downwards into the jagged rocks surrounding the lighthouse. Dying the instant her body smashed into them and then being consumed by the sea.

Emotionlessly Bond watched the entire scene. He had tried his best to save her, to save _**them,**_ but it had proved hopeless. Finally his cold blue eyes moved away from the scene and he staggered back inside the lighthouse, and began to deal with his wound.

"There was nothing more you could do for her James," Bond said to himself in an attempt to quiet his aching heart. "She hit rock bottom."

James Bond will return in _Artifacts of the Red_


End file.
